


Dreams of Things He Can't Enjoy

by VoidLeviathan



Series: The Soul's Sweet-Voice [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Nervousness, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, Sweet-Voice, Thats a lot of soulmates tags, Uhh what else do I tag this as, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29126712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidLeviathan/pseuds/VoidLeviathan
Summary: The sweet voice worked in wondrous ways not everyone understood. Anyone and everyone knew of its abilities, but these weren't the most important thing about it. What was important about the sweet voice, was who could read whose. If someone could read another's voice, it meant they were soulmates.Bubby couldn't use the sweet voice
Relationships: Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)
Series: The Soul's Sweet-Voice [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137218
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Dreams of Things He Can't Enjoy

The sweet voice worked in wondrous ways not everyone understood. Anyone and everyone knew of its abilities, but these weren't the most important thing about it. What was important about the sweet voice, was who could read whose. If someone could  _ read  _ another's voice, it meant they were soulmates.

Bubby couldn't use the sweet voice. He was a man created through science, not born, and science unfortunately decided he wouldn't have a soulmate and wouldn't have a voice of his own like everyone else. He wouldn't let this get to him, or at the very least would act like it didn't. Who needed a sweet voice anyway? Soulmates simply wouldn't matter to him. 

Then Bubby met a man with kind eyes and the prettiest case of sweet voice he'd ever heard in all his years of living. Absolutely enthralled with the way the man spoke, the two of them quickly became good friends, and that was the start of how Bubby came to love one Harold P. Coomer.

"Harold...you remember that day we met."

"If you mean the day I ran into you hiding from the other scientists laughing your head off because  _ 'I finally tricked them. _ ', then yes, of course I do." Coomer chuckled, "How could I ever forget your face when I managed to find you without even looking?"

"Yes well...you were also married then. To...what was her name again? It doesn't matter, it only matters you were married." Bubby rubbed his thumbs together. He really wished he had a better way to word that, though it didn't seem to bother Coomer at all, thankfully. 

"Yes! I was happy too, a shame the marriage didn't work out right in the end, but sometimes its simply how things are." Bubby nodded, still refusing to meet his friend's eyes.

"Right. Where was I- were you two soulmates?"

"Absolutely not. We may have had soulmates out there, but we loved each other despite it, so we tried to work things out. I guess fate happens to be a little stronger than one's love."

"Fates better get its act together after this entire mess." Bubby grumbled, causing another soft chuckle to escape Coomer followed by song and a few yellow bubbles. Yellow meant joy. Bubby always liked the yellow ones. "I mean- so you can find your soulmate after this whole thing. I certainly don't think they'd be excited to hear you've died in some wild ass science experiment."

"Bubby, if you don't mind me asking, why the sudden soulmate talk? You certainly haven't brought it up this much before." Green now. Green the color of fern means 'you have me concerned', if Bubby remembered right. He struggled to come up with an excuse that granted him a way out now that he'd backed himself into a corner.

"I just worry." The scientist eventually says, shrugging as if to make it look like he didn't completely care, "What would happen if someone never met their soulmate? The tragedy of one of the team dying and-"

"Then that person would simply have to move on and eventually meet another. Its sad, but sometimes it happens."

"But I don't  _ want  _ to meet another!"

"Bubby…?"

"The voice! I can read the voice. I can read everything your voice means from your happiness to your worries. I can understand every color thats followed by song and I've been able to since the day I met you. And you know the saddest thing about it all? I can't  _ possibly  _ be your soulmate! No matter what fate says, thats not possible!"

Coomer frowned, Bubby laughing sadly at the look of his face, knowing the question he so desperately wanted to ask.

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't born, Harold, I was  _ made _ . Even if I could understand you and your voice, you would never have a way to understand me as well. Not when I don't have a voice myself. Tragic, isn't it?" Bubby laughed again, hands gripping tightly onto his arms and fingers trying their best to dig into his skin. Part of him was thankful for the lab coat over his arms, but the rest of him was too focused on the sorrowful look Coomer was giving him.

"Bubby…"

" _ Don't. _ " He hissed, "Don't say its fine. Its  _ not  _ fine. Imagine the world assigning you a soulmate, but not being able to be their soulmate back because you don't have one special thing everyone else has! Its- its awful, it's not fair, but thats me and I just have to accept it."

Coomer didn’t respond, and the silence didn’t help calm any of Bubby’s nerves. Sure there was the soft snoring from the other room, the rest of the team having fallen asleep hours ago, but even that didn’t do anything to sooth the ever growing panic between the two scientists. Bubby yearned for something, anything, to distract from the disastrous situation. Coomer only watched him with those eyes so full of sorrow. Perhaps it was for the best. If Bubby couldn’t be Coomer’s soulmate, then there was no worry of them being in a situation like this again. Once this whole thing was over, Coomer could go home and live his life without him. Thats probably what he wanted too.    
  
“Why would I ever want that?”    
  
Oh. Had Bubby been speaking aloud? He never was great at keeping thoughts in his head when he was stressed.    
  
“Bubby, if I may, ” Coomer grasps his hands gently, pulling them away from his arms, “I don’t care that you can’t manage a string of sweet voice. If the universe says we’re destined, than we’re destined, sweet voice or no sweet voice. So you can’t sing and make magical little lights appear, thats not the only way one has to tell how another is feeling.”    
  
“But its a core telling of how one is a soulmate of another. Its how we read the voice, how we know what it means. How will you ever know what I’m feeling if I don’t have that?”   
  
“The way you speak.” Coomer smiles, placing one of his hands on Bubby’s cheek, “And the way you act, and move, and the subtle things you do. Did you know when you’re nervous or upset you tend to pull at the sleeves of your coat, and when you’re angry you start to dig your fingers into your arms? Sometimes when you laugh, you have this warm glow about you. That may just be the fire abilities you have at work, but it’s beautiful in itself.” He leans forward, kissing Bubby’s forehead ever so softly with a smile, “And when you blush you become warmer than any normal person would. Sometimes when you’re sad, you distract yourself by grumbling to yourself. If that doesn’t work, you come over to me and you mope about until I ask whats wrong and then you light up and start ranting off about your day. I know it makes you feel better when I let you rant because you go from looking sad to looking incredibly warm laying against me, talking about something entirely off topic. When you’re very enthusiastic about a specific topic you throw your hands around to really express what you’re feeling in that moment.”    
  
“Thats embarrassing…”   
  
“But its no different than using the sweet voice. What you can’t fully express through song and light, you express through yourself. The ways you move and speak. The ways you act. I don’t need any sweet voice to read. We are soulmates no matter what, and knowing you love me and can read what I sing yourself, is enough of a sign to know that we are meant to be. Now wipe that sad look off your face. We wouldn’t want Dr. Freeman and Tommy to wake up seeing you looking like this. Imagine what they might say…”   
  
“Oh, Tommy would worry his head off and Gordon wouldn’t let me live it down till I talk to him about it.” Bubby chuckled. With a heavy sigh, he finally looks his partner in the eyes. Those warm, welcoming, green eyes he loved so much.   
“You spoil me, you know that? Could have just up and left and never talked about this again.”   
  
“Well now that wouldn’t make me a very good soulmate, would it?” 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this all in like...one whole day? Technically? Because I started at 12 this morning and finished at 11 tonight so! One day. There are exactly two other fics I'd like to write for this series. One Tommy and Darnold centeric and the other Frenrey, but I wanted to get this one done first because its kinda what inspired the AU. 
> 
> A bit choppy, will probably be re-written eventually, but okay for now.  
> Title is a lyric from Happy Life by Roland Faunte.  
> If there are any errors, because there probably is, I'll go ahead and fix em later! 
> 
> Enjoy :]  
> Blog's Enby-Freeman ofc.


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